SA welcomes new guidelines on children''s beds
12/10/2011
A series of recommendations have been made by experts in South Australia (SA) in relation to children's beds.
Parents are advised to share a room with their infants but never a bed by state coroner Mark Johns.
Health minister John Hill noted that many parents feel they are doing the right thing by allowing their child to sleep next to them, but the dangers of doing so are just too great.
Removing excess bedding from the children's bed is also important, otherwise the risk of suffocation could be increased.
New mums were recently advised by University of Canberra research student Kerry Thomas that if they spend less than six hours in bed, they could be at greater risk of suffering from post-natal depression.
She looked at more than 100 international studies to reach her conclusions, which showed a link between depression and sleep deprivation.
Posted by Michael Ewing
